Mill for grinding soap.



UNITED STATES Patented January 3, 1905.

PATENT OEEICE.

CHARLES EDWIN DRAKE, OF WEBSTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HOUCHIN & HUBER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

MILL Fon GR'INDING. SOAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 779,031, dated January 3, 1905.

Application filed September 30, 1903. Serial No. 175,217.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLEs EDWIN BRAKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Webster, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Mill for Grinding' Soap, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mills for grinding soap and materials of a like degree of hardness.V

The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, and easily-operated form of mill in which soap or other materials of a like degree of hardness may be ground to a predetermined degree of iineness without the production of dust and without its being necessary to screen the material after passage through the mill.

The mills heretofore used in the grinding of soap into powder have all been defective, so far as I am aware, in that they produce a quantity of impalpable dust which will escape throughout the factory, causing much inconvenience to the operatives and interferingl with the operation of the machinery, and the product of the mill has always to be passed through a screening device after grinding to fit it for market.

The present invention consists, broadly stated, in a mill in which screening and grinding are simultaneously effected and the .ne. cessity for screening the material after passage through the mill obviated.

In describing the invention reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, in which there is illustrated the preferred form of embodiment of the invention, it being, however, understood that various changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages. In the drawings, Figure 1 is aview in vertical section through the entire apparatus. Fig. 2 is aplan view of one of the plates and the structures associated therewith. Fig. 3 is aplan view of the bottom beater or pounder. Fig. 1 is a plan view of the intermediate beater or pounder.

the top beater or pounder.

Fig. 5 is a plan view ofl` bottom of the drum 4 there is rigidly attachedto the under side of the mill-floor a square plate 7, ofiron or steel of suitable thickness. The plate 7 has a circular opening 8 slightly smaller in diameter than the drum and is provided at the margin of the opening 8 with an upwardly-projecting annular lip 9, over which the drum lits. Immediately beneath the plate 7 there is stretched a screen 10, of wire of comparatively large'size and with tolerably large meshes. Beneath the screen 10 there is arranged a plate 11, having an opening 12 similar in size to that in the plate 7 and having the opening traversed by a plurality of bars presentingaV-shaped cross-section and having the edges disposed in contact with the under surface of the screen 10. The plate 11 is firmly secured in contact with the screen by means of bolts passing upward through both plates, the screen, and the mill-iooring and has on the under side an annular rib 14.

Beneath the plate 11 and fitting over lip 14 is a drum 16 of somewhat greater diameter than the drum 1, and at the bottom of the drum 16 there is a plate 17, having a circular opening 18 with a peripheral lip 19 to hold the drum in position, a screen 2O beneath the plate 17, and a plate 21 with an opening 22 and transversely-arranged bars 23 to afford support for the screen. Bolts extending through the plates 17 and 21, as well as through the plates 7 and 11, hold the plates 17 and 21 in proper position relative to the drum 16.

Beneath the plate 21 and held by a rib 24 is a drum 25, which is larger than the other drums and is supported upon a plate 26, having an opening 27 and a peripheral lip 28. A screen 29 is secured beneath the opening 28,

and beneath the screen 29 is a plate 30 with an opening 31 and transverse bars 32, the lastnamed structure being secured in position by bolts extending through the plates 26 and 30 and through the plates 17 and 21. rIhese bolts also serve to support the conical receiver 34, of galvanized iron or other suitable material, which is disposed beneath the plate 30 and has a discharge opening at the lower end through which the' material ground by the mill is allowed to pass into barrels or other suitable receptacles. The meshes of the screens decrease in size from the screen '10 beneath the plate 7 to the screen 29 above the plate 30, and the transverse bars beneath the screens become more numerous and closer together, passing from the uppermost plate to the lowermost.

Rotatably supported in a bearing 35 upon the horizontal brace-bar 3 is a vertical shaft 36, provided at its upper end with a beveled gear 37, meshing with a beveled gear 38 on a counter-shaft 39, supported in bearings at the tops of a short standard 40 on the brace-bar 3 and a taller standard 41, rising from the floor of the mill. A pulley 42 is rigidly attached to the counter-shaft 39, and power is imparted to the entire apparatus by a belt (not shown) which runs over the pulley 42. The shaft 36 is held against lateral movement at its lower end by a bearing-block 36, secured beneath plate 21, and is provided throughout its entire length with a keyway 43. 4

Above the screen 10 and arranged to revolve in the opening 8 in the plate 7 is a beater 44, comprising a hub 45, having a key or feather 46, engaging the keyway 43. On opposite sides of the hub 45 and arranged in alinement are two inclined arms 47, with the inclines so arranged that as the beater-arms travel over the screen they tend to press the material on the screen into close contact therewith and to pulverize it by rubbing it over the rough surface of the screen. Above the screen 20 is arranged a beater 48, having a hub 49 and three inclined beater-arms 50, and above the screen 29 is arranged a beater 51, having a hub 52 and four inclined beater-arms 53. prevent wear of the screens by the rubbing of the hubs of the beaters on the upper surface thereof, small disks 55 are arranged between the screens and the hubs of the beaters thereabove and are secured to the screens, as by bolts or rivets 55, so that the friction of the hub will be received by the disks 55 and wear upon the screens prevented.

In the operation of the machine the material,

whether soap or some other substance of a simiv lar degree of hardness, is fed through the chute or hopper V`7 onto the screen 10, and the motion of the beater-arms caused by the revolution of the shaft 36 will rub the lumps of soap over the surface of the screen, which the beater-arms barely escape contact with. When lumps are too large or hard to be crushed at once by the beater-arms, the beater will be forced upward along the shaft and the lumps will pass under the beater-arms to be again acted upon when the beater-arms come into contact therewith. The material will be reduced to lumps of comcomparatively small size in the drum 4 and will pass through the screen 10 to fall on the screen 20,where they will be reduced to grains y by the action of the beater 47, and the grains lpassing through the screen 2O will fall upon the screen 29, there to be reduced to powder by the action of the arms of the beater 51. The action ofthe various beaters is substantially the same, as the connection with the shaft allows each beater to be readily moved upward whenever lumps too large or too hard to be immediately crushed are struck by the beaterarms, and consequently the beaters are led to act repeatedly upon refractory lumps of mawill be revolved at any suitable speed-say one hundred revolutions or less per minute-and the output of the machine will be large, steady, and uniform in character.

Owing to the fact that the beaters are feathered to the shaft so that they can rise freely from the screens there will never be any jamming due to hard lumps of material being caught between one of the beater-arms and the screen and consequent injury to the machine from such a cause will be entirely obviated. In order to insure satisfactory results, the beaters will of course be made with heavy hubs and with bars of sufhcient weight and strength to effect final pulverization of the materials acted upon.

Havingthus described the construction and operation of my invention, what I claim as -my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An apparatus of the class described a plurality of connected drums increasing in diameter from the intake to the discharge end ofthe apparatus, a shaft disposed centrally of the drums, screens, and a plurality of beaters loosely mounted upon the shaft above'the screens, the arms of the beaters increasing in number and length from the intake to the discharge end of the machine.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, a plurality of superposed supporting-plates spaced apart, and provided each with a central opening, the size of the opening increasing from above downward, transverse bars arranged in each of the openings, and in suc- IOO IIO

cessively-closer order from above downward, screens disposed above the supporting-plates, and beaters arranged one above each screen and having the number of their arms increasing from above downward.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, a plurality of superposed supporting-plates spaced apart, and provided each with a central opening, the size of the openings increasing from above downward, inverted-V-shaped transverse bars arranged in each of the open.- ings, and in successively-closer order Jfrom above downward, screens disposed above the supporting-plates, and beaters arranged one above each screen and having the number of their arms increasing from above downward. 

